Ethereum data supports long-term buying despite 2026 drop

Ethereum remains under market pressure in 2026, but analysts say its long-term investment case continues to draw support from onchain data.

Ether has fallen 28% this year, yet the Ethereum network still holds a leading role across decentralised finance, stablecoins, staking and tokenised assets.

The network currently supports about $43 billion in DeFi liquidity, more than $165 billion in stablecoins and roughly 55% of tokenised assets tracked on public blockchains.

Token Terminal data also shows that tokenised exchange-traded funds now exceed $400 million in market capitalisation.

Ethereum accounts for 76.9% of the tokenised ETF market, giving the network a dominant position in that emerging segment.

“These are the pieces I believe will continue to lead the market in the mid to long term. And if we look at the current data, Ethereum is still the most important settlement layer for these narratives,”

crypto analyst Tanaka said.

Ethereum staking has also continued to rise despite weaker price action across the year.

Network data shows that staked ETH has reached nearly 39.1 million coins, equal to about 32% of the total ETH supply.

The staked supply is spread across more than 896,000 active validators, signalling continued participation from network operators.

Validator entry demand also remains high, with more than 3.49 million ETH waiting to enter the staking queue.

The current staking entry queue has created a wait time of more than 60 days, while the exit supply remains low at 7,424 ETH.

Analysts said the long validator queue suggests many holders continue to commit ETH to staking even as prices stay weak.

CryptoQuant data also points to a fresh accumulation trend among long-term holders.

ETH inflows into accumulation addresses reached 248,400 ETH on May 20, marking the highest single-day inflow since January 6.

These accumulation wallets often show limited selling activity, which may suggest a longer holding strategy among investors.

Trader Crypto Bullet said Ethereum’s weekly chart still shows a broad multi-year accumulation range between $1,000 and $5,000.

The analyst said ETH could still revisit the $1,000 to $1,300 range before a stronger cycle expansion develops.

Crypto Bullet also identified possible long-term upside targets between $7,700 and $14,000 for the 2027 to 2029 period.

Onchain analyst Rei pointed to Ethereum’s position on the two-year simple moving average multiplier model from Alphractal.

The model compares ETH’s price with its two-year average to identify potential fair-value and overheated market zones.

Ethereum recently slipped below the model’s two-year SMA x1 band, which traders often view as a fair-value area.

Rei said ETH is now moving closer to the lower two-year SMA/2 band, a level historically linked with cyclical accumulation zones.

“History shows that whenever $ETH approaches or touches this zone (like in late 2022), the market usually establishes a highly reliable, cyclical "accumulation zone,"”

Rei noted.

At the time of reporting, Ethereum price was $2,064.93.